Friday, December 03, 2010

Arty Farty Friday ~ Rob Gonsalves: Magic Realism.

Rob Gonsalves is a Canadian painter, born in Toronto, Ontario in 1959. I can find no more birth data than that. If a passing reader knows his date of birth I'd be very happy to hear from them via comment.

It's tricky to categorise Rob Gonsalves' art precisely. It's surrealistic, yet it isn't truly surrealism, because it arises, reportedly, through a process of conscious thought rather than from dreams or from the subconscious.

Magic Realism is another art label we might attach, but that doesn't quite fit either. His subject matter is mainly everyday scenes and situations turned ....well...surreal. Personally (maybe not accurately) I see Magical Realism as dealing more with mythological figures and situations, as depicted in the art of Michael Parkes (here).

As architecture is seen in many of Rob Gonsalves' paintings I'd expect Saturn to feature prominently in his natal chart, as well as Venus (art) and Uranus (the unexpected and eccentric). I notice how the Moon features often in his work - as it did in Paul Delvaux' paintings, shown in last Friday's post - I'm pretty sure that the Moon or its sign Cancer will be to the fore in his natal chart too.

Anyway, a few more facts about Rob Gonsalves from either Wikipedia or a Facebook page available via Google:
During his childhood, Gonsalves developed an interest in drawing from imagination using various media. By age twelve, his awareness of architecture grew as he leaned perspective techniques and began to do his first paintings and renderings of imagined buildings.

After an introduction to artists Dalí and Tanguy, Gonsalves began his first surrealist paintings. The "Magic Realism" approach of Magritte along with the precise perspective illusions of Escher came to be influences in his future work.

In his post college years, Gonsalves worked full time as an architect, also painting trompe-l'œil murals and theatre sets. After an enthusiastic response in 1990 at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Gonsalves devoted himself to painting full time.

Numerous individuals around the world, corporations, embassies, and a United States Senator collect Gonsalves' original work, and limited edition prints. Rob Gonsalves has exhibited at Art Expo New York and Los Angeles, Decor Atlanta and Las Vegas, Fine Art Forum, as well as one-man shows at Discovery Galleries, Ltd., Hudson River Art Gallery, and Kaleidoscope Gallery.

He won the 2005 Governor General's Award in the Children's Literature - Illustration category for Imagine a Day.
He is also an accomplished guitarist.

A few examples of his painting follow. These especially appealed to me. Note the presence of the Moon - surrealist-types do seem to like their Moons, don't they!?












8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gian Paul: "Surrealist types tend to like the (or their) Moon"...

How right you say, T. And not only them, you and me (he's now in Scorpio) and most people who tend to reflect. The word itself recalls the Moon, the chief "reflector" of our solar system.

Some antique notion about the Moon not being exactly a benefactor needs to be considered. "Lunatics", crime rates peaking at full-moon, binge eating and drinking at these periods etc. are an indication for the "hidden influences" of the Moon. Besides, if you ever tried skying at moon-light (sounds romantic), you must know that the light of the Moon is very treacherous, especially during a cold winter night on some snowy mountain.

libramoon said...

You might like to see Emerging Visions visionary art 'zine:

http://emergingvisions.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Gian Paul: Moon/Sun - Female/male, an additional observation to today's and yesterday's posts.

"Males turn out their male/sun charachteristics more when in presence of the other sex". Proof? You bet, even with animals:

Where I live there are frequent thunderstorms, and sometimes they are violent (tropical storms). I used to have a gentle old farm dog, female, now deceased. But she was so afraid of thunder, that she was hiding under my chair or wherever I was. A second dog, a big and strong Rottweiler, male, never showed any signs of being afraid.

But now that his female companion is not anymore, he shows being afraid as well! Letting his sentiment/moon side be seen.

Wisewebwoman said...

thanks for the intro, T. I was not aware of him before even though from Toronto where I lived for decades. H'm I should get out more.
Lovely lovely paintings.
XO
WWW

Twilight said...

Anon (Gian Paul) ~~ Thank you for your input.

Yes, I guess there is a negative factor in the Moon's "influence" -as in everything.

I often think, when gazing at a bright full Moon, how ancient peoples must have wondered about it, and the amazement they must have felt as it changed shape each day - coming ang going with such regularity.

Twilight said...

Gian Paul ~~~ Interesting that you noticed that about your big male dog.
:-)

Twilight said...

Libra Moon ~~~ thank you - I will pay a visit.

Twilight said...

WWW ~~~ They are intriguing aren't they? I especially like The Library.